This invention relates to a chuck assembly for gripping and holding an object.
In the past, various styles of chuck assemblies have been devised for gripping and holding objects, but for the most part these are not adapted to gripping and holding irregularly shaped objects, with the object substantially centered on a selected datum line.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a novel chuck assembly which is economically constructed and simple to operate for selectively gripping and holding objects, some of which may be asymmetrical or irregular in shape.
More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel chuck assembly which includes a face plate mounted for rotation about an axis on a base, means for locking the face plate in a selected position, a plurality of elongate arms projecting outwardly in a substantially common direction from the face plate and being pivotally connected thereto for swinging toward and away from each other, and means for swinging the arms toward each other. The means for swinging the arms toward each other includes a semi-spherical washer pivotally mounted on a member shiftable toward and away from the face plate, whereby the washer may swing to different angular positions relative to the member to permit each arm to swing inwardly toward the other arms at a rate different from the swinging rate of the other arms to permit gripping of irregularly shaped articles.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide such a novel chuck assembly wherein an object held in the chuck may be held in a first orientation upon locking of the face plate, and then may be rotated with the face plate to a second position and relocked in this second orientation without the need for releasing the article from the chuck assembly. With such construction, an object held in the chuck may be rotated about an axis extending substantially normal to the face plate of the chuck assembly with a point on the object being rotated in a plane substantially paralleling the face plate.